April is a month that folks seem to think about more wisely using resources. This week's Enterprise has a nice feature on community power consultant and Leelanau resident Steve Smiley.
Smiley’s home serves as a case study for the Michigan Energy Office, Department of Labor & Economic Growth and is an example of energy (and fuel) savings.
...Smiley said he hopes his home’s carbon-neutral energy consumption will become more the rule than the exception. His vision for Leelanau County includes the creation of shared utilities (heat, water, electricity) which are powered by natural fuel from the sun and wind and renewable sources such as trees, which absorb carbon.
You can see a case study on Smiley's home at the Energy Office case studies page and read Renewable energy powers home of county couple in the Leelanau Enterprise.
The photo is Windmill by j lakechick and seeing it made me think about how once necessity forced folks to take advantage of the energies inherent in nature as a matter of course. Funny how we appear to be returning to that point.
The library has served the residents of Empire, Glen Arbor, and Kasson townships since 1977. The library was first housed in an annex of the former Bolton Department Store building in Empire. In 1983, the library moved down the street to its current location, previously used as the Empire Fire Hall. Over the past few years the Glen Lake Community Library has made many improvements, including; an automated circulation system, public computers, and a greatly enhanced collection.
Cool things to do: attend the weekly activities for children and families, search their entire collection online before you head to the library, attend a Lakeshore Readers book discussion, spend some time walking around Empire.
For more information about the Glen Lake Community Library, you can directly visit their website .
Glen Haven was first a refuge for schooner and steamboats traversing Lake Michigan from Chicago to the Straits of Mackinaw. When these boats would dock at Glen Haven they would be restocked with fuel (wood), fresh food, and additional supplies. As Glen Haven grew, farmers and lumbermen shipped their products out of the dock at Glen Haven. Glen Haven has recently been restored to resemble what it would have looked like in the 1920s. There are now three buildings that visitors can enter and get a glimpse of the past. These are the General Store, the Cannery Boathouse, and the Blacksmith Shop.
The cannery was first built as a warehouse and converted to a state-of-the-art cannery for cherries in the early 1920s. In recent years, the Cannery has housed a museum of historic boats used around Glen Haven and the Manitou Islands
When you are in Glen Haven, stop and walk around the little logging village, which has been restored to it's appearance in the 1920's. Walk into the General Store and browse some of the merchandise related to the history of the Glen Haven area, including kitchenware, food, toys, and maritime-related items and books.
The blacksmith shop is operational most days in the summer, staffed by volunteers. You can watch the blacksmith take a piece of iron, heat it in the forge and pound out useful shapes and parts. The exhibit is very interactive, so feel free to ask questions. You can see some of the parts they have made in the shop and ask the blacksmith questions about his trade or the history of the local area.
Cool things to do: check out the: General Store, Blacksmith Shop, and Cannery Boathouse, go for a swim in Lake Michigan, take a nice walk along the beach down to the dunes.
The Suttons Bay Art Festival (August 2nd and 3rd, 2008) is holding a contest to design a poster for this year's festival with a prize of $300. You can use paint, markers, photography, digital art, crayons, chalk - whatever! The winning design will be used for the poster and T-shirts sold at the Art Festival.
Poster entries will be judged by the Suttons Bay Art Festival committee and you can get all the information right here.
Photo credit: Suttons Bay Artfest 2006 by Andy McFarlane
Also known as Vans, and located on the best stretch of beach in Leelanau County (then again aren't they all), Hall Beach is right next to the south side of the Leland Harbor breakwall. The beach is perfect sand and the floor of the lake is the same, no rocks to hurt your feet. The lake can range from perfectly calm to totally windy with waves breaking over the breakwall, but either way it is a great beach to play on.
Cool things to do: bring a volleyball and walk down a couple hundred feet and play volleyball at the permanent net, lie on the beach and watch the boats entering and leaving the harbor, build a huge sandcastle, dig to China, walk into Fishtown to grab an ice cream treat and checkout the cool stores. On a windy day watch out for kiteboarders or windsurfers.
For more information on this beach, visit the Leelanau Conservancy.
Nearly 3/4 of Kehl Lake is undeveloped, a rare gem in Leelanau County. It is a perfect place for a hike, with two trails totaling 2 miles. The trails leads hikers through open fields that used to be the Kehl's family farmland, and virgin forests with 200 year old trees. At the end of the trail is a viewing platform allowing you to look out over the wetlands.
Cool things to do: look for the "Marker Tree", bent by Native Americans when it was a sapling, this tree marks an ancient Native American camping site, look for the stunted white pines in the field before you enter the woods - these were infested with the white pine weevil, look for Blue Herons along the banks of the lake, and if you look really closely you might be able to see a snapping turtle.
DO NOT GO SWIMMING! There are Snapping Turtles, and they are not friendly.
For more information on Kehl Lake and its surrounding trails, you can click on this link.
The Inland Seas Education Association (ISEA) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to help people of all ages experience the science and spirit of the Great Lakes through shipboard and on-shore programs. The knowledge gained through these experiences will provide the leadership, understanding and commitment needed for the long-term stewardship of the Great Lakes.
ISEA was established in 1989 to provide aquatic science, environmental awareness and sail training classes for learners of all ages. Classes are conducted aboard tall ships to complement traditional classroom studies in ecology, history, geography, geology, biology, chemistry and meteorology. Students learn through hands on experiences.
Cool things to do: anything on the ship is cool!
For more information on the Great Lakes Schoolship visit this website.
The Exposures Open House will be held Friday (Apr 25) at the Old Art Building. The event features an exhibition of work from this year's Exposures magazine along with refreshments and music. The opening reception is on Friday, April 25 from 5 to 8 pm featuring original artwork, essay and poetry readings, hors d'oeuvres and live music by the "I Am Art" student band. The exhibit continues on Saturday, April 26 from 10 am to 4 pm and this is a great chance to support some wonderful student artists and writers from all of Leelanau County's schools.
Check out a few items from past editions of Exposures from Leelanau.com and the Northern Michigan Journal!
Leelanau's Black Star Farms is enjoying an amazing run of good news.
After being named one of bedandbreakfast.com's Top Ten Eco-Friendly Inns, they were invited to provide a prize for Wheel of Fortune's Green Week. The show will reportedly air tonight (Apr 11) at 7 PM on WPBN TV 7&4, and a contestant did win the prize. More from the Traverse City Business News.
On the heels of that comes news that Wine Enthusiast magazine has selected Black Star Farms, Suttons Bay as one of America's Top 25 tasting rooms in its May issue.
It seems almost an anti-climax to report that this week they added online wine ordering to their web site.
Image courtesy Wheel of Fortune / Sony Pictures.
The Leelanau Historical Museum is located in Leland, overlooking the Carp (Leland) River. The museum's exhibits are designed "to reflect the cultural history of the Leelanau Peninsula and its islands from the time of first human habitation." The displays change every few month and are always beautifully presented. The Anishnabek Exhibit is a permanent exhibit devoted to baskets created by local Odawa artists.
Cool things to do: checkout the Leland Library located in the same building and the Old Art Building right down the street.
For more information on the museum, visit their website.
